FAQs of Life

The facts are, we are crazy busy in the office this week trying to get some books to the printer, so I’ll keep this one short and sweet.

If you use Two-Weapon Fighting on your turn to attack with two weapons, do you also take that penalty on attacks of opportunity made before the start of your next turn? How long do the penalties last?

No, the penalties end as soon as you have completed the full-attack action that allowed you to attack with both weapons. Any attacks of opportunity you make are at your normal attack bonus. Generally speaking, penalties on attacks made during your turn do not carry over to attacks of opportunity unless they specifically state otherwise (such as the penalty from using Power Attack).

Can you pick up or manipulate an object in a square within your reach? Does this provoke an attack of opportunity? Does it provoke even if the foe can reach the object, but not your space?

The rules are a little hazy here, but to put it simply, you can affect objects and creatures within your reach. When picking up or manipulating objects, you generally provoke an attack of opportunity, but only against foes that can reach your space. You do not provoke attacks of opportunity from foes that cannot reach you, no matter what action you are taking, even if it includes reaching into a threatened space. Although it might seem realistic to allow an attack in such a case, it would make the game far too complicated.

Can I take a 5-foot step in the middle of my attempt to use the Cleave feat, to bring another foe within reach?

No. Cleave is a special action and the conditions for that action are checked at the moment you begin your action. At that moment, all of the available targets are checked to make sure they adjacent to each other and within reach. You cannot take a 5-foot step in the middle of the action and check conditions again. If you do not have two targets within reach, adjacent to each other at the start of the attack, you could not even attempt to make an attack using Cleave.

OK so a large creature with reach can stick it's arms in your threatened area, grab your KO buddy from right in front of you and no AoO is drawn :/ I'd take complexity over letting Reach be any more powerful than it already is. :rolleyes:

OK so a large creature with reach can stick it's arms in your threatened area, grab your KO buddy from right in front of you and no AoO is drawn :/ I'd take complexity over letting Reach be any more powerful than it already is. :rolleyes:

OK so a large creature with reach can stick it's arms in your threatened area, grab your KO buddy from right in front of you and no AoO is drawn :/ I'd take complexity over letting Reach be any more powerful than it already is. :rolleyes:

Great FAQs No need for suggesting no AoO for reaching into a threatened square is unrealistic since it goes with the theory behind no AoO with cover. In one case a portion is blocked by cover so opportunity is limited, in the other opportunity is limited as most of the target is simply out of reach.

If there's a snake with 10-foot reach and you're ready to hit that snake at the first available opportunity, you should be able to attempt an attack if the snake's face comes into direct physical contact with your body, no feat required. We're not talking about a stray limb provoking AoO's here; we're talking about a creature that places its face in direct physical contact with an opponent who is specifically ready to stab it in the face.

I don't care what the rules for reach say, if I specifically ready myself to make a melee attack against a creature and that creature's face then comes into direct physical contact with me, that creature is in my reach.

If there's a snake with 10-foot reach and you're ready to hit that snake at the first available opportunity, you should be able to attempt an attack if the snake's face comes into direct physical contact with your body, no feat required. We're not talking about a stray limb provoking AoO's here; we're talking about a creature that places its face in direct physical contact with an opponent who is specifically ready to stab it in the face.

I don't care what the rules for reach say, if I specifically ready myself to make a melee attack against a creature and that creature's face then comes into direct physical contact with me, that creature is in my reach.

You must threaten the square the creature occupies, not the space it can reach into. By the rules a creature occupies the only a certain portion of the map. That is why reach is awesome. The rules also don't care if it is a face or an arm. To the book it is just another attack.

PS:It is one of those cases where a GM must decide to follow the rules or real life logic.

On the reach thing: Until the feat came out to grant people with a readied action the ability to attack a creature with reach I had just figured PCs could do it anyhow. Basically: in the games I GM everyone effectively has that ability. Without charging a feat.

Does a simple action like kicking something away in a random direction also provoke AoOs?

Does that count as "manipulating an object" ...

I would say it's pretty much a Bullrush of an unattended object, which doesn't provoke from adjacent enemies... the GM may want to 'adjudicate' the DC/distance kicked, but it's fundamentally a Bullrush in terms of the rules: you could flavor your Bullrushing of an Orc as 'kicking him thru the doorway'.

I'm still wondering about Grapple's movement restriction:
it's worded differently than the 'anchored' aspect of Entangled, so does it just mean the Grappled character can't move themself, i.e. use their own movement modes, or IS it meant to block all movement per se, i.e. even a Titan Knockbacking one of two grappling Halflings, or Gravity happening when the bridge under two grapplers is disentigrated, simply are impossible no matter what if the target(s) are Grappling. It feels like ideally there needs to be a DC for some external forces (bullrushing) but saying no external force may move them EVER is just wierd. Even Immovable Rods offer a Strength check (although that seems like it should be a CMB/Bullrush check under PRPG) and have a max weight resisted.

for 'gravity happening' scenarios, there is the case where both grapplers are unsupported against gravity: which seems like they should automatically fall/move, and the case where one is and one isn't: which seems like a CMB check or encumbrance application is valid. being in a moving river type of situation is also similar.

"If you use Two-Weapon Fighting on your turn to attack with two weapons, do you also take that penalty on attacks of opportunity made before the start of your next turn? How long do the penalties last?

No, the penalties end as soon as you have completed the full-attack action that allowed you to attack with both weapons. Any attacks of opportunity you make are at your normal attack bonus. Generally speaking, penalties on attacks made during your turn do not carry over to attacks of opportunity unless they specifically state otherwise (such as the penalty from using Power Attack)."

This mean that is is possible to attack with a double weapon using Two weapon fighting and then make the Attacks of Opportunity using it as a 2 handed weapon?

yup.
on a RAW basis, you are using the '2 handed weapon' double weapon with 2 hands while 2WF'ing with it,
so all relevant bonuses should still apply, although 'off-hand attacks' (the extra attacks from 2WF)
explicitly say 'only' 1/2STR dmg, which over-rides 2H bonus, forcing 'only' 1/2 STR dmg,
but the main-hand attack is still from a (non-light, in fact 2handed) weapon you are wielding with 2 hands.

i don't think that's the RAI, and stuff like Mobile/2WF Fighter seem a bit unbalanced if you go by that RAW, though.

I do believe the one exception to this rule is a Dwarf who also has the 'Cleave Through' feat, as that allows them to, as a free action when making a cleave maneuver, to take a five foot step if the initial hit, hits. Now then, if you've greater cleaving finish, and that feat also, would it be possible to 'chain' that, since Greater Cleaving finish creates a new cleave target if one of your targets falls, as in, you get to start a new single attack cleave.